


you are my place

by milusia



Category: Teen Wolf (TV)
Genre: Derek's Eyebrows, Emotional Constipation, Established Relationship, Ficlet, M/M, Mention of How to Train Your Dragon
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-04-29
Updated: 2014-04-29
Packaged: 2018-01-21 06:17:26
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,215
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/1540730
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/milusia/pseuds/milusia
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Derek likes it when Stiles walks away. He likes the look of Stiles’ back in a plaid shirt, the sound of his footsteps receding, his heartbeat fading in the distance.</p>
            </blockquote>





	you are my place

**Author's Note:**

  * A translation of [Emocjonalność głazu](https://archiveofourown.org/works/1356757) by [milusia](https://archiveofourown.org/users/milusia/pseuds/milusia). 



> Christmas exchange gift inspired by [this gifset](http://fuckyeahstilesderek.tumblr.com/post/70717199545/mindmychaos-derek-watching-stiles-walk-away).
> 
> Title from [_And I_](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EQ3fuFXoRFE) by Dawid Podsiadło.
> 
> [Tumblr post](http://milusia.tumblr.com/post/84242861380/you-are-my-place-milusia-teen-wolf-tv-archive-of).
> 
> Un-beta'ed, so feel free to point out any mistakes.

Derek likes it when Stiles walks away. He likes the look of Stiles’ back in a plaid shirt, the sound of his footsteps receding, his heartbeat fading in the distance.

 

*

 

He realized it quite quickly that Stiles’ presence didn’t actually make him want to maim and kill. Or at least not literally. Obviously sometimes (all the time) his patience and its limits have been tested – his imagination provided images of Stiles being smashed into a wall or thrown on the ground. Still, the situations when he would use actual physical force against him became rare. Mostly because no amount of bodily harm would convince Stiles that sometimes it would be smarter to just shut up and not charge, shouting some ridiculously pompous war cries, straight into every single supernatural conflict.

{If Derek were to be honest with himself (which he clearly tried to avoid always and at any cost) about why he stopped using Stiles as his personal stress-relieving punching bag, he would probably admit that hurting Stiles became something of a problem – he disliked it more than Stiles’ never-ending rambling. Or maybe it was because at some point what he could read in his eyes turned from fear to disappointment and tacit agreement to what he was being done to. For some reason it twisted like a sharp knife in Derek’s stomach.}

 

*

 

Discovering that he _likes_ Stiles took him a little bit longer. Which could be explained by the fact that being around Stiles most of the time meant trying to find anything that could be used as a gag. There’s no way he could’ve focused on anything while being constantly subjected to 24/7 stream of consciousness freely broadcasted without any filter.

{Emotional constipation and selective blindness also come to mind, however Derek would like to emphasize that opinions voiced by other members of the pack are rarely in accordance with those of their Alpha.}

 

*

 

When he decided that maybeprobablypossibly he has _feelings_ for Stiles, he panicked. You could say that he received a divine revelation and needed to meditate on the matter. Meditation took form of driving away in his Camaro faster than you could say “denial”. Some people redecorate, others hit the booze; Derek needed to clear his head and think away from the prying noses of his pack. So he left without a word and continued to _think_ for three days.

After he came back, he found (and by found he means almost stepped on by accident) Stiles sleeping on his porch.

{Stiles, who even in his sleep hasn’t looked peaceful or careless anymore.}

“Stiles?” Derek asks quietly, trying to maintain safe distance. He takes another step back, when Stiles wakes up flailing, looks around like he doesn’t know where he is, and then his eyes focus on Derek and his face goes blank. The only thing that gives him away is how unnaturally fast his heartbeat is, which he must be aware of, judging by the slightly pink tips of his ears.

He examines Derek without a word, his eyes sliding over every inch of his body, as if to make sure he’s okay. When he’s done, he sighs quietly and stands up from the floor.

“I… I was just jogging in the woods and, you know, it was so terribly hot, you wouldn’t believe, so I just wanted to rest for a while, and I must’ve fallen asleep,” Stiles is very visibly _not_ looking at him, trying to simultaneously back off from the porch and believably explain being there in the first place. “But I’m off now, adios, don’t let me stop you from getting into your own house, which you have obviously missed, because you’ve been away…”

“Stiles,” Derek repeats, this time louder, and Stiles seems to finally snap out of whatever was going on in his head – he stops talking and starts breathing again, but continues to stare at his sneakers like they were an alternate universe. “Stiles, it’s okay.”

Derek doesn’t know how, but suddenly he’s right in front of Stiles. He doesn’t care either. The only thing he cares about right now is how Stiles smells like relief, but also embarrassment, sadness and something else he can’t quite put his finger on; too elusive even for his werewolf senses. Slowly he takes his hand and places is under Stiles’ chin, lifting his head and forcing him to finally look Derek in the eyes.

“I’m glad you’re back,” Stiles almost whispers, like he is hoping that Derek won’t hear it.

“I know.” _I missed you._

“And don’t you ever disappear again, got it?” Stiles tries to sound light but fails miserably. “What if we got attacked by aliens? Or a biker lizard gang? We wouldn’t have made it without our Alpha, you know,” Stiles half-smiles, back to staring at his shoes.

“I’m not going anywhere,” replies Derek and even he is surprised how much conviction he put in that one sentence. After a while he adds “I think you should come in, we need to talk.” This time he’s the one admiring the floor.

“Okay,” agrees Stiles, like he knows what Derek means. He smiles, takes his hand and leads him into the house.

{Derek quickly realized that Stiles understands him better than he does himself. Which can be helpful when one’s in a relationship with a werewolf who can express his emotions about as well as a boulder (regardless of how nice that boulder might be, he thinks, and damn Stiles and his pop cultural references which are impossible to get rid of). However it becomes a problem when your own boyfriend explains it to you with this annoying know-it-all smile of his why exactly you were crying at How to Train Your Dragon. Which is a complete lie, nothing like that ever happened. What also didn’t happen was the endless puns, starting with a How to Train Your Alpha guidebook and finishing with naming Derek’s eyebrows Night and Fury. Never happened.}

 

*

 

Deciding that he want to spend the rest of his life with Stiles was easy. He woke up one day with a smile on his face and a certainty that the person lying next to him and entangling him with their limbs is the best that would ever happen to him.

{True, it took months to get used to the fact that they’re together; and years before he realized that Stiles wasn’t going anywhere. When he left for college Derek was sure it was over. Stiles begged to differ, vocally, the night before he left, right after he reached his dorm, during those rare weekends at home and every day over the phone. He only stopped four years later, standing on Derek’s doorstep with his life pouring out of cardboard boxes, an idiotic smile and a daring _I told you so_.}

 

*

 

Derek likes it when Stiles walks away. But he _loves_ what happens after. When he can no longer see the plaid shirt, can’t hear the footsteps or the heartbeat. Not anymore, not yet.

Derek likes to be alone. He likes the anticipation, emotions running wild under his skin, like ozone in the air right before the storm, when all you need is a single spark.

Derek likes it when Stiles walks away. Because he knows he’ll be back. He always is.


End file.
